


Ghost In My Lungs

by Eternal_Love_Song



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Demonic Possession, Extremis Pepper Potts, Ficlet, Loki Does What He Wants, Multi, Possession, Sharing a Body, froz3npizza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8192734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternal_Love_Song/pseuds/Eternal_Love_Song
Summary: Pepper dies. Loki has an offer for her.Takes place during Iron Man 3.





	

Pepper opened her eyes to a combination of darkness and fire. She felt cold. The lack of warmth was so complete that she wondered if the fire was actually exuding cold.

"Virginia Potts." A cold, smooth voice addressed her, but she could see nothing of who spoke in the dark. The blackness was absolute. "He dropped you."

That was when it all came back to her. Killian. Extremis. Reaching for Tony's hand... falling.

The words spoken to her echo in her head.

_'He dropped you.'_

A figure appeared to her then. Blue, horned, red eyed. She suddenly had a sinking feeling.

"Welcome to Hel, darling." The man smirked at her, showing off his fangs. He walked slowly toward her, his clothing shifting from strange leathers into a bespoke suit. "You are dead," He told her plainly. "That's the bad news."

Bad news. As if there was any good news in this situation.

She suddenly realized she couldn't feel her body, couldn't see it. Did she... have one... anymore?

"The good news, my dear, I'm willing to bargain with you."

* * *

 

Tony fell to his knees as he watched Killian finally go down. It was too much. It was all too much. He thought he might be on the verge of losing it, now that he had time to think on how much he had failed Pepper. Just as that thought began to wind up, just as the pressure began to build inside him, he heard something. His head snapped toward the sound before he'd even thought about it and he saw her.

Pepper was standing there, breathless and surprised, as if she was just as confused as he was, fire glowing under her skin and in her eyes. Slowly, the red glow faded from her eyes and she seemed to see him. "Tony." She gasped breathlessly.

He embraced her in the next moment, holding her tightly. "God, Pepper! I was so afraid."

She clung to him in turn, shock still seeming to take her over. "I'm here, Tony, I'm here."

It was probably the relief that made Tony decide not to question it.

* * *

 

Pepper stared at herself in the mirror. She looked... unnatural. Red traveling just underneath the surface of her skin, eyes burning like fire. She looked--

"Beautiful," A cool voice finished for her.

She blinked and the image of herself in the mirror was overridden. Pepper jumped back, almost falling backwards in her shock as she saw him. She blinked again and she saw him standing behind her. She turned quickly, but no one was there. Looking back at the mirror, nothing had changed, except that he was smirking now. No... looking closely, she could see that the mirror wasn't reflective any more at all. The edges were black, more like a moving portrait of them than a mirror.

"I'm partial to the eyes myself," He continued.

"Who are you?" She whispered.

He gave her a look, disapproval and... disappointment? "You mortals like to play the fool when it comes to me, but I know you have not forgotten. Once someone sees my face they do not soon forget."

That had to be true. Pepper wasn't certain that she could ever forget the sight of him. She wasn't certain how she almost had. Willful disbelief maybe. She wanted to forget. She didn't want to remember.

"Come now, it's not so bad," He said. In the mirror, his fingers played with her hair. She could almost feel it, the shadow of the sensation teasing the edges of her senses. "You're alive! It's what every mortal dreams of: cheating death!"

"Not like this," She told him.

"I hope you aren't blaming me for this," He said, hard disapproval clear in his tone this time. "I did not bind fire to your veins. All I did was catch you when he failed to do so."

"Stop it!" She demanded more loudly than meant to.

The room went cold instantly. She felt ice creeping up her skin, but she didn't see it. "You'll mind your manners when speaking with me, mortal. Respect your elders! Respect your gods."

She felt fear that she didn't know how to describe fill her up. She forced herself to ask what she had been unable to last time. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am," He told her. The ice stopped instantly. The fear dissipated . Slowly, the mirror cleared from the black it had become until she was able to see herself again. "Get used to having company, my dear. The dead get old fast and your life is already paid for, if you recall."


End file.
